The Sky rider, knocked out of the sprint at the semi-final stage by his team-mate Jason Kenny on Friday night, treated the crowd to an imperious display of Keirin riding.

But as the Scot powered to the line, a huge crash behind him wiped out almost all the other riders.

Gone was his ‘old’ favoured tactic of fighting to ensure he took the position directly behind the Derny bike and leading from the front. Instead, he varied his tactics, dropping back down the line and hitting the opposition from behind.

Hoy deliberately left a gap between him and the riders in front before coming round the outside and turning on the power. The Spanish rider Juan Peralta Gascon, who had marked him Hoy tightly in an earlier round, went down first and the rest went with him.

As Hoy celebrated, the others picked themselves up and ran to the line. The Malaysian rider Azizulhasni Awang was the most seriously hurt. He had a huge splinter from the track through his calf. But he was determined to cross the line to score the points he needed to win the overall World Cup title.

And then he stopped and got off his bike, yelping in pain. It took a while to get the attention of the medics. As the ever-popular Awang was stretchered away, the velodrome stood to applaud him.

In the women’s sprint competition, Anna Meares continued to show her strength. The Australian has been in fine form for the best part of two seasons now, and her 2-0 win over Victoria Pendleton in the semi-finals showed that she is not slowing down.

Pendleton had beaten her compatriot Rebecca James 2-0 in the quarter-finals but had no answer to Meares in the first race. The second was much closer but the Sky rider had to be content with a clash against Olga Panarina for the bronze, which she won.

Meares went on to beat China’s Shuang Guo 2-1 in the final.

New Zealand’s Shane Archbold dominated the men’s omnium. Having won the flying lap and points race on Friday, he followed up with a solid second day. His lowest position was fifth, in the scratch race, as he stormed to a very low total of 15 points, 16 clear of Ho-Sung Cho in second place. Britain’s Ben Swift was sixth overall. His best performance was second in Friday’s elimination race. Although he was reasonably consistent, his poor start in the flying lap and points race meant he was out of the medal hunt.

Lizzie Armitstead was having similar issues in the women’s omnium. American rider Sarah Hammer was completely in control going into the second day. She had won two of the first three events and finished second in the other.